Rural and Community Art Project Grant
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
The primary goal of the project is to create an engaging arts experience for participants and the general public. A secondary goal is to expand our participants’ artistic skills. These are the measurable short-range outcomes: To place at least 16 snow sculptures in Whiteside Park. To engage the public in the artists’ work. To create an atmosphere for collaboration and teamwork. To be family-friendly. These are the longer–range outcomes: To provide rewarding experiences for audiences and increase appreciation for the arts. To provide participants with opportunities for personal growth as artists. To draw visitors to Ely to strengthen the local winter tourism industry. The number of snow sculptures is easily counted, and the degree of engagement with the public is easily observed by Ely Winter Festival board members who will be in the park throughout the time when the carving is taking place. We will sponsor several group meals that are attended by artists and board members, and we will solicit feedback from artists informally at those events. Additionally, we will evaluate our success by soliciting feedback from other arts organizations (e.g., Northern Lakes Arts Association, Ely ArtWalk), the business community, and the general public. The first board meeting following the completion of the Festival is always open to the public for the express purpose of evaluation. We obtain lodging tax information from the Chamber of Commerce. Because lodging taxes are collected monthly, not weekly, it can be difficult to sort out the impact of the Festival itself, but year-over-year trends indicate a long-range positive impact.
These were the measurable short-range outcomes: To place at least 16 snow sculptures in Whiteside Park. To engage the public in the artists’ work. To create an atmosphere for collaboration and teamwork. To be family-friendly. We placed only 14 snow sculptures in Whiteside Park, and another at the Headquarters operation. However, teams were larger than anticipated and the number of carvers grew to 40. The public was clearly engaged in the artists’ work, as we could see from the number of people in the park watching them carve. We sponsored several group social events for carvers, and received positive feedback on their ability to collaborate with each other. All sculptures were judged to be family friendly. These were the longer–range outcomes of the Symposium and the Festival in general: To provide rewarding experiences for audiences and increase appreciation for the arts. To provide participants with opportunities for personal growth as artists. To draw visitors to Ely to strengthen the local winter tourism industry. We have several carvers who come back year after year, attesting for the long-range ability of the event to help participants grow as artists. One team led by Jaymie Stocks that began carving several years ago at our event represented the state of Minnesota at the national competition this year after placing first at the Saint Paul Winter Carnival snow carving competition in 2016. This attests to the track record of our event in developing artists. Hotels and restaurants were full during the Festival, which demonstrates the impact our event is having on winter tourism.
Other, local or private